Personal Records Make My DAY!

As I mentioned before, I’m a big fan of CrossFit*. I try to work out 3 – 5 times a week at my local affiliate, 5B CrossFit here in Blaine County. I didn’t always do this. When I started last June, I would go sporadically, 2 days here, 2 days there, with a month off in between. I was still seeing results, but not the drastic ones I wanted to have. That all changed January 2 of this year. 5B was starting their winter Paleo Nutrition Challenge, and I was ready for a lifestyle change, and a diet change. I wasn’t really overweight, but I was not in the shape I wanted to be in. I started going 3 – 5 times a week and the changes were immediate. I was sleeping better, my jeans weren’t tight, dresses that were getting a little too snug were fitting again, and my shoes weren’t as tight as I remembered. (Yes, my feet were even starting to get a little chubby.) One of the first things people around me noticed was that my skin was clearing up and looking fresher! I loved hearing the compliments! Just look at the before and after pictures to see the changes I made physically. As you can see, I looked a lot different after the challenge.

Pretty Sweet!

Another perk that I absolutely love about this activity is the camaraderie that comes from working out with like-minded people. You find yourself competing mentally with someone who is close to your level, but it’s not in a spitefull way at all. While you’re ‘competing’, you’re also cheering that other person on. Another reason I CrossFit is because you see yourself improve in all aspects of the workouts; you’re getting faster, you’re scaling down less*, you’re lifting more weight – and this is where this post comes in.

Last weekend I had a little too much to drink at a friend’s birthday party, and it put me in a workout funk mentally and physically. I took 4 days off of CrossFit. 4 days! It felt like a month, and when I finally went in on Thursday, I didn’t want to be there. I still felt like crap, and that day’s WOD was overhead lifting, which I am pretty weak at. We had to do heavy push presses. The last time I did these, I couldn’t get more than 67 pounds over my head. The two ladies I was grouped with were stronger, I knew that, but I thought, ‘Hey, just try it. If you fail (which is actually a good thing) you can go down in weight.’ So, we started at 65 pounds, that’s only 2 pounds lighter than my 1 rep max weight. By the end of the workout, I had 90 pounds over my head. 90 pounds!!! I knew that I would be able to do that someday, but I never thought it would happen after 5 months. And as a bonus, I beat one of the ladies with lifting more weight!

And that brings me to my final, and most important, reason I joined 5B CrossFit and plan on staying with it: I feel great about myself after improving so much. I glow after those workouts. I am so happy with myself, my strength, my achievements. And to make it even better, my CrossFit comrades who were there with me that day, they felt the same. They cheered me on, they slapped my back, they high-fived me, they were just as happy for me as I was. And you can’t find that in a lot of places anymore.

So now that I’ve sold you on changing your life for the better, find a CrossFit gym near you to start. If there isn’t one in your town, start one in your garage with a friend! Either way, I promise you will look and feel 100% better.

*Qwik Lesson #1 – “CrossFit is awesome! The amazing Kyl Samway and Alex Margolin took their mutual love of physical activity and healthy lifestyles and created this literal hole-in-the-wall gym. At this gym, that doesn’t look like much, I’ve undergone pretty drastic body changes in a pretty short amount of time. Check out this before and after picture.

*Qwik Lesson #2 – Every WOD (workout of the day) is the same for everybody. Depending on your level though, it can be scaled down. That can include less reps, less weight, assistance with rubber bands for things like pullups and ring dips, etc. First rule of CrossFit is to not hurt yourself, or anyone else around you.